Manifest your poetry
Make your statement - entry 12 in this onchain poet's travelogue
Why are you writing the poetry you write? What's your drive, what's your goal? And what's your vision? These are questions you should ask yourself as an artist regularly, but in the magical mundo of the metaverse, they are particularly important.
In the traditional world, you write a poem and submit it to a publisher, in the hope you can convince the editors your poem is a great fit for their magazine. Or book. Or site. They often don't say it this way, but what you are doing is submitting your art to their vision of what poetry should be. It has to align with their goals and their drive to publish. Fair enough, because building an audience for a magazine or book collection is hard work. And that audience trusts their judgement. They, the editors and publishers, are the gatekeepers standing between the audience and the artists. You could also call them matchmakers: they decide if your work matches the taste of their audience.
Keep your own gate
In Web3, when you publish your art as NFTs, this is hugely different. Yes, there are some NFT magazines, combining multiple works in one NFT, sharing the earnings with the artists. But mostly, you need to find your own audience. Either for your entire body of work, or for individual pieces. To find that audience, those people who will press the mint or collect button on your work, you need to be able to tell them about your work. You need to be able to answer these questions above. You should create your own manifesto.
Publishing your work onchain is like self-publishing. You need to do all the work yourself, including defining how your work matches the desires of your audience. The good part is: you are not dependent on individual sales or collects alone. It's not just about that publication fee you get for finding your work in a magazine or the royalties of a book. It's about people collecting (an edition of) your work, and about finding patrons who want to support what you do. In Web3, this is a thing. There are, as I mentioned in the last post, several funding opportunities for artists. In many formats, but they all have in common that there's always a part where you have to present yourself. Having a manifesto ready to go, is a great way to ensure you are always prepared, and that you send out a consistent message. As I also mentioned in the previous entry of this travelogue: taking part in these public good funding rounds and competitions is not just about getting the funding or the prize, it's about finding new people to welcome into your audience. It's about finding new collectors.
Let’s take the first step together
So, take these questions as a start, and write your own manifesto. It's a good step towards finding your audience.
Who are you?
Why are you writing the poetry you write?
What's your goal?
What's your vision on your work?
Who is your audience?
The answers to these questions will help you shape your manifesto, your declaration of artistry, your statement of poetry. It's a process. And as you evolve, so will your statement. But that's the next phase.
You can find my Declaration of Poetry by clicking the button. Or on the other side of the paywall as an image, where you can also Ask Me Anything about being onchain.